Title: Help I'm Alive

Author: OpheliacAngel

Pairing: Rose/Lissa

Genres: Romance/Hurt/Comfort

Rating: Teen

Summary: "I think it's just us now, Rose. Just you and me."

A/N: Written for femslashficlets for prompt #032 hurt/comfort.

Soundtrack: Title and lyrics are from Metric's song of the same name.

~My heart keeps beating like a hammer

Beating like a hammer

If you're still alive, my regrets are few

If my life is mine, what shouldn't I do~

Rose can be downright infuriating sometimes.

There are questions she asks, questions Lissa can't answer because she can't comprehend just what happened. One minute she was sprawled out on the blacktop, glass digging into her arms, blood running into her mouth, Rose the closest thing she could reach and reach she did, she grabbed onto her arm so tightly, willing every bit of remaining strength left into her, and the next she left the comforting darkness for a hospital bed and a distraught Rose occupying the bed next to hers.

Rose was alive? But wait… she was alive. Except Rose… even in the darkness Lissa saw that Rose was long gone. She had cried out to her, reminded Rose of their pact that they would go together, but Rose's limbs were twisted into positions they should never be twisted in, her face matted in blood and even though her eyes had been closed, it had been like Lissa could feel the life leave her. Leave Lissa.

"Liss? Lissa!" Rose's voice was rising in tone… and panic. Lissa quite easily slipped out of bed and padded in bare feet over to Rose. She was ridiculously sore, which was to be expected, but she felt so alive because Rose was. She would never take that for granted again. "What the hell is going on?" Lissa grabs her flailing arms and settles down next to her on the bed, smoothing the creases in her best friend's forehead with her thumb. Rose seems to settle down then, but Lissa still shoots the hovering nurses a warning look. "Liss." Rose looks up at her, dark eyes full of pain and confusion. "Lissa, what happened?"

"I think…," Lissa starts, mind flashing back to the accident. "I think it's just us now, Rose. Just you and me." No one has told her about the death of her parents and Andre, but Lissa knows. Somewhere inside her a voice is telling her that it's her fault, that it's Rose she chose to save, that selfishly Rose was the only one she saw, the only one she tried to reach. She painfully shakes the thoughts from her mind. Rose needs her now, for the time being. It's her turn to protect her instead of the other way around. "Why don't you get some rest, okay?"

Rose looks shell-shocked, but Lissa, insistent, pushes her down and fluffs the pillows quickly behind her. "God, Lissa. I… I'm so sorry. I'm…."

"Later, Rose. Just… later." She smiles down at her best friend, whose eyelids are starting to droop. Rose will never know just how beautiful she is. Lissa is only now just starting to realize how lucky she is to have a friend and guardian like Rose.

It's time she do something about it. She's alive after all.

Rose is more like her old self again the next time she wakes up.

She immediately tries to cheer Lissa up by talking about boys and movies and prom. Rose is like that, when she sets her mind to a task she always throws herself headfirst into it. It's one of the many things Lissa admires about her because she is the exact opposite. She thinks before she acts, even organizes before she acts. She chooses boring and safe over fun and daring, but none of that matters. Rose is always there to make sure she has fun but never pays the price for it. Rose is a true friend, one that most people will never have the pleasure of possessing.

To Lissa, saving Rose's life isn't enough. She almost died herself and there has to be something that gets woken up inside her. What's so odd is in that second before unconsciousness, before dying, the only thing she had thought about was Rose: saving Rose, bringing Rose back to life even though that made no sense. Here Rose is though, and while it must be a hallucination it isn't.

"Rose, I need to talk to you about something." Rose stops her tangent. "Ever since I woke up, I've realized some things." For once, Rose doesn't have a snappy comeback. Also for once, this grates against Lissa's nerves because it makes rejection imminent rather than probable. "I have feelings for you, Rose. I won't mess up our friendship, but I won't lie to you either.

"Liss…."

"Quiet, Rose." She's not planning on stopping now. "You make no secret of your interest in sleazy boys, but you insist on hiding from me. Me," she continues, "when I know you best."

"I love you too, Liss."

This is odd too, but it's the first breath Lissa's taken in a long while.

FIN